{"id":885,"date":"2012-09-24T03:22:27","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T03:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/?p=885"},"modified":"2012-09-24T03:22:31","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T03:22:31","slug":"kathmandu-will-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/?p=885","title":{"rendered":"Kathmandu Will Do!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re really enjoying Kathmandu. This is our third night in Kathmandu and it feels nice to stay put, to really get to know a place.<\/p>\n

Our first night, I mentioned finding the magic. \u00a0What I neglected to mention was my glorious hotel find, ahem\u2026 \u00a0I no longer think I can trust the opinion of TripAdvisor. \u00a0I found Hotel Silver Home on TripAdvisor and it was rated at 4.5 out of 5 stars, and the reviews mentioned large rooms, comfort, and cleanliness. \u00a0Well, the room was a nice size. \u00a0It was large enough for a twin and a double bed, a table, and a couch. \u00a0But that’s where the review’s reliability ends. \u00a0I couldn’t get comfortable in the room due to the uncleanliness. \u00a0The carpet was gross, the bathroom was even grosser, and the sheets were definitely not clean. \u00a0The toilet seat was an abomination, and there was a hole in the wall of the bathroom that lead to nastiness. \u00a0And if that wasn’t bad enough, as we were getting comfy in our travel sheets (a must while traveling) Seth found a roach trying to snuggle with him. \u00a0Yuck! So we shook out our sheets and tied the top opening in a knot. \u00a0Fire hazard, maybe, but at least it was effective in keeping out the bugs. \u00a0At the end of the day, it was really my fault. \u00a0No matter where you go, a ten dollar hotel is still a ten dollar hotel. \u00a0I had set my hopes too high on the exchange rate and put too much trust in TripAdvisor. \u00a0Never again!<\/p>\n

The next morning we made our way to Hotel Courtyard, which is much better. \u00a0Clean and comfortable, it has it’s own quiet courtyard and it’s far enough away from the busy section to have a quiet night’s rest. \u00a0Ahhh…<\/p>\n

In Old Kathmandu is Durbar Square. \u00a0After walking through twisting narrow streets, lined with shops, we made our way to the sectioned off part of the town. \u00a0The asian influence in this area is quite strong. \u00a0The architecture shows it. \u00a0We meandered through countless temples, pausing to take in the sights of various depictions of gods in the various forms. \u00a0The highlight for me was seeing the living goddess of Kumari Chowk. \u00a0Yes, you heard me. \u00a0The cult of Kumari worships a living prepubescent girl who is said to be the incarnation of Taleju. \u00a0There is a selection process in which girls aged around three to five from the buddhist Shakya clan of goldsmiths are interviewed a lot like how the Tibetans choose their incarnation of the Lamas. \u00a0Apparently there are 32 auspicious signs of the Kumari which include odd things like a neck like a conch shell, and eyelashes like a cow. \u00a0Horoscope is, also, rigorously checked to see that it is not in direct conflict with that of the king (though at this point in time there is no king in Nepal anymore). \u00a0The Kumari’s feet never touch the ground, and she is not allowed out except on special occasions, like festivals, where she is carried upon her throne. \u00a0Though photos are strictly forbidden, we were lucky enough to show up right as the Kumari decided to make a short appearance at one of the courtyard windows, where she looked around for about half a minute before returning inside. \u00a0This Kumari was chosen in October of 2008 at the age of three, making her about 7 years old. \u00a0It is said that when the Kumari bleeds, whether from menstruation or otherwise, the goddess’s spirit leaves the body, and therefore she retires and a new Kumari is chosen. \u00a0Becoming a mere mortal can be difficult, even to find a husband, because it is said that whoever marries a Kumari will die young. \u00a0So, Seth and I saw the incarnation of a goddess. \u00a0I thought the whole situation was weird and really interesting.<\/p>\n

\"durbarSquare1\"<\/p>\n

\"durbarSquare2\"<\/p>\n

On a side not, this has to be the most awesome cutout we’ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

\"pureAwesome\"<\/p>\n

In the evening we went to a fancy shmancy restaurant in a super fancy hotel. \u00a0In this restaurant you get to choose anywhere from a six to twenty two course meal. \u00a0We opted for twelve and it was definitely too much food, but you better believe that I finished most of it. \u00a0I think the experience was way more exciting than the actual food. \u00a0Though I did like the momos, little dumplings, and the pureed fruit and yogurt dessert was good. \u00a0It was nice to be dressed up, in a country that we, so far, like, and drink wine with my husband. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"dressed<\/p>\n

\"momo\"<\/p>\n

Today we did a bit of shopping, or at least browsing. \u00a0Then we went somewhere really cool. \u00a0We went to the Buddhist temple. \u00a0It is like walking into it’s own little world. \u00a0There is a large domed temple in the center and people walk clockwise around the temple on the path. \u00a0There are tons of restaurants and shops selling prayer beads and other handicrafts. \u00a0The temple area and the maze of streets that spiral outwards consist of a little Tibetan community. \u00a0The architecture and everything else inside reflected that. \u00a0<\/p>\n

We ended up finding a basement restaurant called 3D. \u00a0We had delicious Tibetan food. \u00a0Buff momos (buff = buffalo), and Seth ordered hot and sour soup, and I ordered egg thukpa (a noodle soup). \u00a0The food was really delicious. \u00a0We also ordered honey, lemon, and ginger tea, which was perfect. \u00a0We were really jonesin for some warm liquids to soothe our throats. \u00a0Kathmandu has a lot of road construction taking place right now, which causes a lot of dust to be in the air. \u00a0Today we bought face masks, but the soup and tea were needed and enjoyed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re really enjoying Kathmandu. This is our third night in Kathmandu and it feels nice to stay put, to really get to know a place. Our first night, I mentioned finding the magic. \u00a0What I neglected to mention was my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,200],"tags":[210,211,201,202,209,208],"class_list":["post-885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-nepal","tag-hotel-courtyard","tag-hotel-silver-house","tag-kathmandu","tag-nepal-2","tag-shopping","tag-thamel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=885"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":887,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885\/revisions\/887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}